White, a Teach for America alumnus seen as a rising star in the national charters-and-choice education movement, came to New Orleans in 2011 to lead the Recovery School District. He was only 35 at the time.

On Thursday, the two education activists who filed that civil rights complaint, which alleged unequal treatment for black students, called on White to resign for saying the complaint was a "political farce" backed by national unions.

Several NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune readers who commented on that post agreed.

Wrote rebelgringa, "new orleans reform is a form of containment of young black youth. there is no education going on, just memorization and constant regurgitation of same. this state is in critical shape and John White must GO!!"

But grisgras posted: "He's doing a great job. Only the lazy freeloading union sympathizers who couldn't get a job without the union are complaining."

Commenters also revisited the debate over whether White is a mouthpiece for Gov. Bobby Jindal, who chose him for the position -- a question that's been complicated by their recent split on Common Core.

Talented10th: "Most people know that John White is a puppet used for Jindal's political aspirations!"

ourtime: "right, because 'puppets' openly and publicly defy their handlers all the time. John hasn't exactly been shy opposing Jindal's politically-motivated 360 on common core."

A crowd of educators 4,000-strong responded well to his speech at a Tuesday conference promoting Common Core and saying he would fight for resources for them. But even there, he wasn't universally popular. One teacher called him "a fraud" before whisking into a session.

White's actual employer, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, stands staunchly behind him. This April, they gave him a 3 on the superintendent's 4-point evaluation -- a fraction lower than his evaluation the year before, when he received a 3.15. Board President Chas Roemer said White successfully promulgated the board's positions.

According to White, the board members scored him higher on qualitative elements such as vision, leadership and building relationships with staff than on quantitative measures such as student test scores.

How do you think he's doing? A bid to make the superintendency elected failed in the recent legislative session, but there's always Internet polling. We've borrowed the score categories from Louisiana's teacher evaluations. Let us know more in the comments.